Late last week, the Environmental Protection Agency made a rare decision to move to block a $220 million Army Corps of Engineers flood-control project in the Mississippi Delta known as Yazoo Pump. Such 'vetoes' of Army Corps projects are rare, having happened only 12 times in the EPA's history and not since 1990.

Audubon and other conservation groups have made the case for years that the Corps proposal would severely impact tens of thousands of acres of wetlands and aquatic habitat important to migratory birds, Mississippi River fishes, threatened black bears and other wildlife. Authorized by Congress 67 years ago, the so-called Yazoo Pump is a relic of an era when wetlands were considered wastelands, and the intent was to increase the production of crops on marginal farmland.

Audubon hailed the decision.

"We are pleased the EPA has recognized the importance of this ecosystem to the ecological health of the Mississippi River," said Bruce Reid, Audubon's Lower Mississippi River Program Director. The Yazoo Backwater Area, covering nearly one million acres near Vicksburg, Miss., is one of the few remaining large wetland habitats subject to backwater flooding from the Mississippi River.

"The Army Corps of Engineers needs to be more environmentally responsible. This decision doesn't fix the Corps, but it is a start," said Betsy Loyless, Audubon's Donal O'Brien Chair for Advocacy and Policy.

Protecting the Mississippi is a top Audubon priority. The Mississippi River Basin drains about 40 percent of the area of the lower 48 states, making it the largest watershed in the country. Up to 90 percent of all freshwater entering the Gulf of Mexico comes from the Mississippi River. Taken together, the Mississippi River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico encompass more than 40 million acres of large river floodplain, coastal wetlands and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Approximately 60 percent of all North American bird species depend upon the River's habitats, including 40 percent of all waterfowl and shorebirds that migrate along the Mississippi flyway.

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